Following today’s UFC 140 pre-event press conference in Toronto, the UFC boss held court with a handful of reporters to discuss a variety of topics.

While MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) already published full reports on the future of Strikeforce, the status of Anderson Silva and White’s thoughts on Rashad Evans, the UFC head also discusses Georges St-Pierre, Jason “Mayhem” Miller, Fedor Emelianenko, B.J. Penn and the latest on “The Ultimate Fighter” all over the globe.

With St-Pierre shelved, interim belt the only way to go

On Wednesday, UFC executives revealed that welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre (22-2 MMA, 16-2 UFC) suffered a torn ACL in training and that surgery on the knee would force the French-Canadian to the sidelines for approximately 10 months.

With St-Pierre on the sidelines, Carlos Condit and Nick Diaz now meet at UFC 143 for an interim championship.

Interim titles are typically shunned by many MMA fans, but White insisted this particular situation warranted a temporary title.

“I know [Georges] is going to be out for 10 months, and it’s been however many months since he fought,” White said. “That thing’s been tied up. What happened to Carlos Condit is unfair. Diaz was the Strikeforce champion. It just made sense.”

St-Pierre hasn’t competed since an April win over Jake Shields. He was expected to fight at October’s UFC 137 event, but the knee injury forced him to withdraw from the card. He was then scheduled to fight in February against Diaz, who was subbed in for Condit after a few post-UFC 137 comments left St-Pierre begging for the matchup.

White believes the frequent shuffling was due to an unfortunate misdiagnosis of the true ailment.

“I think what happened with Georges, first of all, was that he was diagnosed wrong,” White said. “If we knew that that was a blown ACL from the beginning, he could have already had the surgery and been recovering this whole time.”

If the layoff extends past the estimated 10 months, St-Pierre could potentially near two years without a title defense. Unsure of what exactly will follow, White decided an interim championship was the proper course of action.

“It’s a big layoff, but what are you going to do?” White asked. “It is what it is. When a guy goes out there and blows his ACL, there’s nothing you can do about it.

“I think that whoever wins that fight (between Condit and Diaz), the belt will be defended at least once before GSP is back.”

“Mayhem’s” future still hangs in the balance

You can’t talk White out of his feeling that Jason “Mayhem” Miller (24-8 MMA, 0-2 UFC) blew it in his fight with opposing “The Ultimate Fighter 14″ coach Michael Bisping. He didn’t like Miller’s performance then, and he still doesn’t now.

But after hinting that Miller might be one-and-done in his second stint in the octagon, which, as it turns out, was also one-and-done, White has gotten an ear-full from fans who thought he was being too harsh. After all, Miller got the nod from all three judges on the first round of the fight, which headlined The Ultimate Fighter 14 Finale this past Saturday.

White, however, said it was the most one-sided fight in the history of the UFC and said Miller’s standup was on par with a soccer mom at her first Tae Bo class.

Still, the UFC president acknowledged that Miller’s fans are at the very least loud, if not entirely persuasive.

“I’m overly excited about the response that I’ve gotten about cutting ‘Mayhem’ Miller,” he said. “Fans have been bashing me on Twitter, terrorizing me on Twitter, not to do it. So, I like the fact that people are sticking up for him.

“But guys, let’s be honest. Ring rust is one thing. I’ve seen plenty of guys with ring rust. Ring rust and horrible standup are two different things. It’s baffling to me how this guy has been in the sport for 10 years and displayed that type of standup in his fight with Bisping.”

The British middleweight pounded a visibly gassed Miller out in the third round after the competitive start. Miller later apologized for his performance and admitted that he got tired. It was his first fight in any organization since he submitted aging legend Kazushi Sakuraba at DREAM.16 in September 2010. He previously fought once in the octagon when now-champ Georges St-Pierre outpointed him at UFC 52.

A well-publicized falling out with Strikeforce preceded Miller’s second trip to the UFC, where he stepped into the “TUF 14″ coaching role when Chael Sonnen couldn’t get a second’s license to coach the show in the wake of his suspension by the California State Athletic Commission.

Whether Miller can get one more chance to show his stuff may now depend on his fans, otherwise known as “Mayhem Monkeys.”

White commends Emelianenko’s “crazy fans”

White couldn’t help but laugh a little when asked about his comments on recent (unfounded) rumors that he was once again working with M-1 Global to secure the services of Fedor Emelianenko (32-4).

“The Last Emperor” recently snapped a three-fight skid by securing a one-sided decision win over UFC veteran Jeff Monson, prompting some MMA pundits to suggest the UFC may once again try and bring Emelianenko to the octagon.

White today laughed off the suggestion but commended the Russian’s persistent supporters for their commitment.

“I’ll give it to him,” White said. “This guy’s got some crazy fans. They like Fedor.”

Penn’s future still unclear

In October, former UFC champion B.J. Penn (16-8-2 MMA, 12-7-2 UFC) suffered a one-sided loss to current interim title contender Diaz, prompting “The Prodigy” to call it quits at the conclusion of the fight.

In the time since, many MMA fans and pundits have speculated on Penn’s future, wondering aloud if the fiery competitor is truly ready to walk away at just 32 years old.

White said he hasn’t spoken with Penn since the UFC 137 bout, preferring to allow the fighter to reach out when he’s decided what comes next.

“I have not talked to B.J. since the fight,” White said. “I haven’t. When he’s ready to fight, he’ll call me.”

Penn’s name was actually brought up earlier in the week by former champ Tito Ortiz, who said it was hard to watch Penn absorb so much damage in the fight with Diaz. While it was certainly the first time Penn had been truly busted up in a UFC contest, White said it wasn’t the type of contest that would lead him to call for Penn to quit.

“We’ll see,” White said. “I don’t know. Retirement is one of those things that I don’t ever get involved in that – well, unless I want you to retire.

“He’ll make that decision on his own. We’ll see what happens.”

“TUF” times ahead for contestants

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

The format, which emphasizes weekly live fights over taped ones, requires fighters to be on set for 12 weeks. That could mean fighters are locked in virtual sensory deprivation twice the amount of time they were for previous seasons – three months without phones, radio, or TV.

Even White thinks that’s harsh.

“It’s bad for six weeks,” he said. “Six weeks is crazy. I can’t even imagine what’s going to happen with 12.”

The UFC this week held auditions for the 15th season of the show, which is the first under the promotion’s new broadcast deal with FOX. All the drama of the “TUF” house will be added hot off the press to live weekly fights every Friday night. Bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz coaches opposite recent title challenger Urijah Faber, who will get another crack at the belt when they meet on a pay-per-view event that’s yet to be announced.

In previous seasons, the Spike TV show was taped over the course of six weeks, and its tournament fights were parsed out over the course of a 12-week season.

Auditions commence next Wednesday in Sao Paulo, Brazil, for the first international edition of “TUF.” Former champs Vitor Belfort and Wanderlei Silva were spotted at tryouts for “TUF 15,” which prompted speculation that they might be in the running for coaching jobs.

White said that might be the case, and it might not.

“Let me tell you what, if I was planning on having anything, the last place I would meet with guys is in front of you guys,” he said. “But yeah, we have a lot of guys that we’re looking at as potential coaches. What we’re going to do is we’re going to go down there and cast it, figure out what we’re going to do, and then we’ll go from there.”

The Brazil season could air on FUEL TV, he added. As for other international editions – Canada, Australia, the Philippines and the U.K. season are all coming soon – White said all of them are targeted for next year, though details have yet to be ironed out.

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